Passenger orientation (pathfinding) is an important factor in designing the layout of comprehensive transportation hubs, especially for static guidance sign systems. In essence, static guidance signs within the hub should be designed according to passengers’ pathfinding demand, that is, to provide passengers with accurate information at the appropriate location. Therefore, from the perspective of passenger information demand, this study aims to determine the appropriate location and density of static guidance information. Two types of passenger information demand in the pathfinding process are defined in this study: one is generated at the path decision point, where multiple path options exist; the other is at the points between decision points, where pathfinders need to confirm that they are still on the correct path. According to the interaction of pathfinding behavior and guidance information, the abstract relationship model is established between macro-behavioral characteristics and the micro-psychological state. Moreover, based on walking speed analysis, the judgment criterion of passenger psychology in pathfinding is proposed to determine the spatial location and density of guidance information. The analysis results of Shanghai Hongqiao International Airport show that, under the threshold of the speed drop section given in the study, 80% of passenger information demand is satisfied when guidance information spacing is 47 m, and 60% of information demand is satisfied when the spacing is 56 m. The findings presented in this paper can provide a reference for the optimal design of static guidance information in comprehensive transportation hubs.

As one of the effective measures of intelligent traffic control, on-ramp metering is often used to improve the traffic efficiency of expressways. Existing on-ramp metering research mainly discusses expressways with right-side on-ramps. However, for underground expressway systems (UESs), left-side on-ramps are frequently adopted to reduce the ground space occupied by ramp construction. Since traffic entering from the left and right sides of the mainline may have different traffic characteristics, on-ramp metering for UESs with left-side on-ramps should be explored specifically. This study examines the impacts of left-side on-ramps on the traffic safety and efficiency of UESs and proposes an effective on-ramp metering strategy. Firstly, using field data, traffic flow fundamental diagrams and speed dispersion are discussed to explore the traffic flow characteristics of the “left-in” UES. The results show that the capacity and critical occupancy are both reduced in left-side on-ramp compared to right-side on-ramp expressways. Meanwhile, the speed dispersion is higher in left-side on-ramp UESs, which means a higher accident risk. Based on this, considering traffic safety and efficiency, a novel two-parameter left-side on-ramp metering strategy for UESs is proposed, in which occupancy and speed are used as the control indicators simultaneously. Additionally, the mechanism of the metering strategy is explained. Finally, the proposed on-ramp metering strategy is simulated on a real UES. The results demonstrate the advantages of the proposed two-parameter on-ramp metering strategy for improving the traffic safety and efficiency of UESs.

Finite Element Simulations with Adaptively Moving Mesh for the Reaction Diffusion System - Volume 9 Issue 4 - Congcong Xie, Xianliang Hu

To evaluate the Hadamard finite-part integrals accurately, a novel interpolatory-type quadrature is proposed in this article. In our approach, numerical divided difference is utilized to represent the high order derivatives of the integrated function, which make it possible to reduced the numerical quadrature into a concise formula based on the cycle index for symmetric group. In addition, convergence analysis is presented and the error estimation is given. Numerical results are presented on cases with different weight functions, which substantiate the performance of the proposed method.